Before I delve into the world of board books, I want to mention that the first anniversary of my blog and shop came and went two weeks ago and I never even acknowledged it. The girls were sick and Jeff was traveling. Need I say more? But things are looking up this week, and I'm feeling more celebratory. After all, this blog has gotten nearly 100,000 pageviews in the last year! Thank you, my wonderful readers!

My plan to commemorate a year of blog posts was simple: update my profile photo to reflect my current, non-pregnant self (I've been non-pregnant for last 9 months, which is a record for me lately, so it's about time for a new photo) and identify the last year's most popular posts. I failed to take a new self-portrait (I'll get around to it soon) but did manage to look through my blog statistics and update the "Popular posts" column on the right-hand sidebar. I love that a short essay I wrote about my grandma almost a year ago is still one of the most viewed items.

And with that, I'm moving on to board books. We love them. We can't rip them. We can't eat them. We can flip through them before our fine motor skills are very developed. Last year, one of my nieces received a beautiful board book as a gift from one of her other aunties, who made it using My Custom Story. After admiring the book for a year, I finally ventured to My Custom Story to make a board book for my girls as a Christmas gift. (Nope, the company isn't sponsoring this post. I'm just a fan.)

Below left: Front cover. Below right: Back cover.

The book is 10 square pages, plus a front a back cover, for a total of just 12 pages. When I first starting pulling photos together, I was paralyzed by indecision. How could I cull them down to just 12 pages of material?

I needed a theme. Since the girls get a kick out of photos of themselves and their family, I decided to document the origins of our family. The plot is simple. Mom and Dad met and got married. Cricket arrived. Nora arrived. And they all loved each other and had lots of adventures together.

The software is a bit clunky but manageable, and you can either pre-design your pages or plug your photos into a variety of layouts. It isn't cheap to have the book printed, but the print quality is impressive and the books make great gifts.

Cricket flips through her gift after finding it under the Christmas tree. What could be more exciting than seeing yourself on the cover of a book?

Have you ever made your own board book? Would you recommend any other companies? I've got another book in the works, but I'm keeping it under wraps until it's finished...

P.S. Need some Valentine's Day decoration and card inspiration? Check this out.

Hi Julia,
Thanks so much for your beautiful photos for book 2! I'm glad you made one as well. I also tried this site http://customboardbooks.pintsizeproductions.com/category which is less expensive but I found the software even more clunky.
Deborah

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Julia @ Calmcradle

2/22/2013 09:30:38 am

Thank you for the inspiration! Your cousin book turned out so cute! I'll have to check out the website you used for my next project.

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Hello there

I'm Julia Soplop. I've spent my life documenting the world around me in writing and photography. I believe there is something profound in bearing witness to moments of joy and pain in others’ lives. My husband, three girls and I live outside of Chapel Hill, NC. You can read more about me here.